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THE PRICE OF WINNING

My mouth gets me in hot water every day. That’s the way I am. No one’s going to change me. And I never regretted anything I said. Never. A lot of people say that I don’t think when I speak. Of course I do. But I’ll say stuff in a different way with different people … If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you don’t. I don’t care. The people I care about are my boss and my players. The fans and the media don’t win games for me. — Ozzie Guillen, Men’s Health, 2006

This is what the New York Mets were expecting: a middle-of-the-lineup right-handed power hitter who’d hit 30+ home runs and drive in 100+ runs; an above-average defensive left fielder with a strong throwing arm; a clubhouse leader and team player.

That’s who Jason Bay was — in 2009. In 151 games as a Boston Red Sox, Bay hit 36 home runs and knocked in 119 runs in his only as a starting left fielder in the American League. The Mets expected more of the same when they plucked Bay out of the free agent market and signed him to a four-year, $66 million deal.

The book is scandalous and breath-taking; shocking and revealing; sad and disappointing. The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven is the story of the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials and the steroid era. In this episode of Voices, Skirboll takes us behind-the-scenes of one of baseball’s biggest and most embarrassing scandals.

January 18, 1985 Tim Leary was quietly traded by the New York Mets to the Kansas City Royals. Leary was selected out of UCLA in the first-round (second overall) by the Mets in the June 1979 Draft. Less than two years later, at age 22, Leary made his major league debut. It lasted seven batters.

Life would have been better if no one said the phrase – ever — but it was too late now. By the timeTim Leary first heard someone say it in his presence all he could do was go out and try to provide evidence to support the claims.